The Last Starry Sky
by NoteEmmy
Summary: Mana gets news of Mahaad's future and tries to coax him into spending one final night with her.


Mana could barely walk straight after her talk with Isis. It had been a long time coming. She'd been put as far away from this entire war as those close to her could get her. Out of harm's way. Out of knowing what was really going on. She wasn't part of the Court, after all, nor the Pharaoh's army. She didn't belong in this affair. But how could she not be when it affected those she loved so deeply? So gravely, in some cases, that lives important to her were being lost.

So she'd had enough. She'd decided to talk to the Priestess, but what she heard was barely what she'd wanted to. Maybe she'd gone in with some childish notion that she'd give her a prediction, a future where everything was going to be alright. In reality, what she heard was the most soul crushing thing she could ever remember being told.

And it led her to Mahaad's chambers. She had been instructed on the eve of last night not to disturb him anymore. She knew he was just trying to protect her. As she pressed herself close up against his door, eyes closing, listening- she could hear him praying. For guidance. For protection. For a swift end to this war, with favorable outcome. …for her to be safe.

Her hands pressed harder on the door and it squeaked open. Enough for him to be disturbed. He'd always been able to pick up on the slightest of things. The smallest of sounds. The weakest of emotions.

He said nothing to her, though it was clear that he was angry for being disturbed. He had told her not to come near him, after all. She was clutching her wand tightly, shaking terribly, and staring at him with a broken gaze he hadn't seen in quite a long time.

Mahaad wanted to be angry with her, but the simple fact was that he could not. Not when she was looking at him like that.

"What troubles you?" Even his tone was different now. Sure, he always put on airs in public. But they were friends. Closer than friends. When it was just the two of them he'd always been softer. Now he couldn't even manage it. Better to keep her away with.

For a long moment she stood stiff in her spot, scared to do anything. Maybe Isis was wrong. And maybe she should just apologize, pretend to be her normal ditzy self and go away. She wanted to. She was tempted. But she just couldn't. "I need to talk to you." Really that was the lightest way she could put it.

His eyes narrowed, falsely, as he was trying to pretend to be angry. "I have told you not to disturb me."

"I talked to Isis." She said meekly.

Mahaad felt his breath catch. Had the Priestess had another vision? Shouldn't the Court be convened? They had precious little information as it was. Anything she knew had to be relayed to the Pharaoh immediately. He stood. "I understand." Sometimes Isis had visions that came out of nowhere. It was possible they'd been chatting and she had gotten caught. Yes, Mana was just alerting him so he could wake the Court up. "I'll get-"

"No!" She could see the thought going on in those brooding eyes of his. He was going to get everyone. He was going to tell her to go away. He was going to leave and never come back. And that was unacceptable. She paced further into the room, letting the heavy doors swing closed behind her. "No." As firmly as she could manage.

His anger rose a little. Mana could be childish at the worst of times. "Mana whatever she has told you has to be relayed-"

Then everything stopped. Her wand was dropped to the floor and she had gotten close enough to him to reach up and hug him. Mahaad went stiff but she refused to go. Her eyes closed, tears leaking from the ceases in the corners. "Isis has said you will leave and not return by human means." She had had a vision. A foul one. Isis had also told her not to tell anyone else, as she had been rather distraught by it as well. But fighting destiny rarely had good consequences.

Mahaad was not a man scared of death. It was when it put his others in jeopardy that he became frightened. He had been worried about Mana being so close that she would get hurt. Now it seemed like that cause for concern had not been watched very well. She was crying.

And she _knew._

He had had plans to ride out tonight to meet where he had been tipped off that the thief would show himself. He was going to face him. The magician had, of course, planned to win, but now it seemed like that was not going to happen. Isis was rarely wrong.

Slowly his arms came around her. "Mana, this war needs to end. And by whatever means-"

"Don't." Her words were muffled in his robes, along with her sobbing. She'd become hysterical in the span of a few seconds. His damn duty was always so important. Wasn't she important, too?

Usually he'd scold her for being so childish, so careless, so demanding to her betters. But now he couldn't. What she was experiencing was no less the feelings he had when he thought of her being slain on the battlefield accidentally. How could he tell her to stop?

A few moments passed, Mahaad eventually going to run his fingers through her hair to console her. It worked, a little; eventually dying down to sniffles and hiccups. But she refused to let him go. And when things were finally at their quietest, only the fires cracking in the corners of the room sounding, she whispered to him.

"Please come see the stars with me." They had often liked riding to the edge of the desert when no one was looking. When duty was not needed. It was a secret. And this would be their last of it.

He wasn't sure he could. "The time is not right for that." He would have to leave soon. He couldn't put this off.

"_Please!_" She hated begging. But what more was there that she could do?

Now came his choice. Duty? Or her? He'd always put duty first. She knew this. It was important to him, important to Atem, to Egypt. But he was about to perish, it seemed. Could he really leave her behind when the both of them now knew this?

There was no time, though, to ride to the desert's edge and sit on the cold sands and watch the stars pass. He couldn't manage, if he was going to catch the Thief sneaking about. But he couldn't leave her, either.

"Sit with me." Here would have to do. And after he got her to sit and quiet down he raised his hand upwards, casting a blinding spell. One that revealed the very cosmos all around them. It was breathtaking, a true testament to the powers he wielded- Mana for a brief moment wondered if they were just sitting in the sky. It was what it felt like.

She leaned against him, watching him more out of the corner of her eye than the stars he was producing. She was never going to see him again. She didn't want to watch the stars, she wanted to be with him. But this was the best and only way she was going to get that.

Eventually as spiraling, glittering arms of the galaxy passed them over, she leaned closer and closer. His arm came around her. If there ever was a time, this was going to be the last chance she got.

"Mahaad I-"

"Mana."

It was a warning. The same ones he gave her when she was younger. Only softer and more concerned. In this she almost felt like he really understood, for the first time ever, what she was trying to say. Her eyes closed, tears falling from the brim of her lashes.

"Thank you."

He smiled, faintly, almost invisibly. "You have become everything you've set out to."

For a moment she was stunned and unsure this was real. Perhaps she'd fainted outside Isis' room and was dreaming. Her eyes closed and her heart skipped a beat as he leaned and pressed his warm lips against her forehead. It was the closest she'd ever felt to him.

And she fell for it. The spell he put on her was enough to keep her down and out while he rode away for the last time. But she could swear as she slept soundly, tucked in the warm covers of his bed- she heard him say it.

"I'm proud of you."

And it would have to be enough.


End file.
